I’ve been meaning to try making my own blini for a while now, to make the most of buckwheat flour being gluten free. I already use it to make galettes (the French savoury pancakes) but I was really pleased when I came across this easy peasy recipe on the Doves Farm website. Blini are traditionally made with yeast, but these are much simpler and just use a bit of baking powder as a raising agent. Whisking the eggs really well to make them frothy helps give a really light consistency to the batter.

I was so pleased with them, I made them a second time when we had our mini Christmas family gathering last weekend. They look quite spectacular all together on a platter.

The ingredients are:

2 Eggs
175 g Buckwheat Flour (I used Rude Health sprouted GF buckwheat flour)
2 tsps Baking Powder
300 ml Milk
2 tbsps Oil

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until quite frothy – this takes a few minutes.

Sieve in the flour and baking powder, then gradually add the milk, continuing to whisk until the batter is smooth but frothy looking.

Heat a smear of oil on a heavy frying pan and drop in teaspoons of the batter. I found I could cook seven or eight at once on my big pancake pan.

When the underside is golden and the top looks almost cooked (stopped being shiny) then turn over and cook the other side briefly. Repeat until all the batter is used up. I have made 60-70 from this amount of batter using teaspoonsful.

Rest the blini on a wire rack to cool, then decorate with whatever toppings you fancy.

I did, in descending favourite order:

• brie and baked Parma ham (tear the ham into strips and roll into loose balls, then bake until crispy at 180C – 10 to 15 mins)
• beetroot and mint dip from the Co-op with some Merchant Gourmet puy lentils (warmed through and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper)
• smoked salmon and cream cheese
• chicken, sweetcorn and mayonnaise sprinkled with smoked  paprika
• red pesto, mozzarella, basil & baby tomato